What You May Want to Do on Leap Day

You hear a lot of people say that they wish they had more time to get everything done they want to get done.

Well with it being Leap Day we all get an extra 24-hours today, it’s the day that we get that extra time.

The science behind Leap Day and Leap Years is simple and complex.

While we use a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the planet 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to orbit the sun. 

So about every four years, an extra 24-hour day is added to make up for it. The extra day keeps calendars and seasons from gradually falling out of sync. So years that can be divided by four are leap years. The exceptions being century years, which have to be divisible by 400 to be considered leap years — so while 2000 was a leap year, 2100 will not be.. 

So that answers why today is Leap Day. The more important question may be, what are you going to do with it?

Of course anyone born on a February 29th is celebrating their birthday on their actual birth date. But for all of us, an extra day 24 hours is a chance to do one of those things we never seem to get to.

Maybe it’s something special like calling a friend or family member with whom we haven’t spoken to in a long time.

That could make Leap Day a special day.

(Photo Getty Images)